Jane's diary: December

INSPIRATION

We peek into the diary of Jane Shepherdson - our inspirational CEO.

Whistles Christmas Windows

I can’t believe it’s nearly Christmas! For us, this time of year is a buzz of festive-themed meetings and planning for the new year ahead so it’s nice to take a moment to admire our gorgeous Christmas window displays. We collaborated with the very talented papersmith Matt Wingfield who created our beautifully clean green tree cones using the high-quality paper from independent British paper mill GF Smith.

SS14 Press Day

We temporarily transformed our Dover Street store into high summer for our SS14 press day. Florists Baxters Flowers installed a fantasy floral installation that swept across the floor leading the way to our new collections...expect to be wearing metallics, pinks, tropical greens and safari prints anytime soon.

British Fashion Awards

Last week, we attended the British Fashion Awards 2013. This year’s ceremony was held at the grand London Coliseum and the international fashion pack were in full attendance so the style stakes were sky-high. Miuccia Prada looked purposeful and serious, as befits the best designer in the world, Simone Rocha looked very pretty in pink and Tinie Tempah looked sharp as a knife. We gorged ourselves on British tapas and champagne - all in all a wonderful night!

Item of the Month

I’ve completely fallen for the Lux Overcoat. Perfectly cut, clean lines, beautifully soft, made from 100% wool and made in England... what could be more perfect?

Trip to New York

I was in New York earlier this month and met with some of the most influential editors in the business. Eva Chen, Editor in Chief of Lucky magazine is an inspiration – she is hugely intelligent, incredibly stylish, and an ardent supporter of Whistles, having lived in the UK for much of her life. She instagrams constantly (evachen212) and is often seen wearing Whistles cable knits with her monogrammed leather pouch in hand. I then hotfooted it to Williamsburg, enjoying the new stores and eateries that continue to spring up in this hip district. A trip to NY is never complete without meeting up with my sister who lives in Philly and dinner at my new favourite restaurant, The Fat Radish on Orchard Street, where I was served vegetables I have never even heard of before!

Elle Feminism Debate

I went to the Elle Rebranding Feminism event earlier this month and it was so much fun. The night began with the very funny Sarah Pascoe talking about her boobs, which was a very welcome and light-hearted start to proceedings. The panel, which included the ever-capable Lorraine Candy, Jo Swinson, minister for women and the Vagenda bloggers amongst others, were called together to discuss whether or not Feminism needed a rebrand. We discussed feminism as a dirty word that implies a lack of femininity instead of equality, which of course is what it actually means. It ended with a question from one of the few men in the audience, who asked why there were no men on the panel, to which Jo Swinson MP, very swiftly replied “ welcome to my world.”